A Survey on Adaptive 360° Video Streaming: Solutions, Challenges and Opportunities

Omnidirectional or 360° video is increasingly being used, mostly due to the latest advancements in immersive Virtual Reality (VR) technology. However, its wide adoption is hindered by the higher bandwidth and lower latency requirements than associated with traditional video content delivery. Diverse researchers propose and design solutions that help support an immersive visual experience of 360° video, primarily when delivered over a dynamic network environment. This paper presents the state-of-the-art on adaptive 360° video delivery solutions considering end-to-end video streaming in general and then specifically of 360° video delivery. Current and emerging solutions for adaptive 360° video streaming, including viewport-independent, viewport-dependent, and tile-based schemes are presented. Next, solutions for network-assisted unicast and multicast streaming of 360° video content are discussed. Different research challenges for both on-demand and live 360° video streaming are also analyzed. Several proposed standards and technologies and top international research projects are then presented. We demonstrate the ongoing standardization efforts for 360° media services that ensure interoperability and immersive media deployment on a massive scale. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion about future research opportunities enabled by 360° video.